Farewell Evening Sapphire Princess

Farwell and Thanks - Until We Sail Again 

"As our cruise concludes, the crew of Sapphire Princess would like to thank you for joining us. We'd also like to thank our Captain's Circle members, and say "welcome aboard" to our first-time cruise guests and new additions to the Captain's Circle family."

click images to enlarge

We selected comfort choices from tonight's menu as our final dinner onboard.

Starters

Double Beef Consommé and Shrimp Cocktail

Main Course

All-American Meatloaf with Mushroom Gravy, grilled vegetables, buttered corn, mashed potatoes

Dessert

Baked Alaska (on parade) and Raspberry Sorbet

This was a repeat menu from the first farewell dinner during our voyage.   Recall that several passengers had already been on the ship when we embarked in Singapore on January 9th.  The night before arriving back in Singapore January 20th, we celebrated the conclusion of their voyage.

Farewell New Friends

We asked one of the other waiters to take a picture of the four of us with our waiter and assistant waiter.  Until we meet again ... Rob & Chris from Australia, Poramate (Waiter), and Anool (Jr. Waiter).

In Search of the Perfect Chocolate Martini

We had most of our luggage packed already - we just needed to pack today's clothes and put the bags out for pick up.   We decided to have a drink at one of the bars with Chris and Rob.  We had a coupon form Captain's Circle for a free drink, so we decided to sample a Chocolate Martini.   The bar waitress suggested the Milky Way Martini, so we ordered two of them.  We have been tasting Chocolate Martinis on each cruise we've been on since 2003 - the quest continues ...

A toast ...  to new friends and the staff of Sapphire Princess - thank you for a wonderful cruise - we wish you calm seas until we can meet again.

The adventure isn't quite over - stay tuned for post-cruise stay in Singapore and the return flights home.

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Related Album:

Sapphire Princess Dining

Additional photos can be found on our Southeast Asia Shutterfly page

View Our Other Shutterfly Share Pages

Follow Us On

Sign-up for Exclusive Email Offers

Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat 

Artistry II Farewell Dinner

click on images to enlarge

Farewell Artistry II 

Not our last dinner onboard but the most suitable evening for this special treat. 


We enjoyed our Farewell Dinner on Avalon Artistry II as we sailed from Kinderdijk, Netherlands to Hoorn where we would spend the night.

Before dessert, the Hotel Director thanked us for sailing and recognized the staff that had taken care of us for the two weeks.

We met many new friends during the two weeks onboard the ship.  Also we had a fabulous crew.

Rhine & Moselle River Cruise Play all

Video Diary of Avalon Rhine & Moselle River Cruise on Artistry II. This was a 13 day river cruise that started in Zurich, Switzerland and concluded in Amsterdam, Netherlands. 

Additional photos can be found on our Rhine & Moselle Shutterfly page: 

Artistry II Farewell

 

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Follow us on Twitter: @ChrisPappinMCC  Pinterest: CruiseWithChris Pappin and Facebook: CruiseWithChris Pappin Cruises Inc
 

Farewell #FriFotos Thanks For Memories

For those of you that don't know #FriFotos was a weekly photo forum by @EpsteinTravels @TravelDesigned @CharlesYap. Theme was revealed every Tuesday 12pm ET.  Recently, @spencerspellman joined the team as a permanent co-host.  We  co-hosted one week late last year and continued to contribute with images from our archives whenever possible.

This Friday marks the end of an era.  For five years, the Twitter community has gathered each Friday to share photos related to a stated theme.  Three weeks ago, Jonathan Epstein, one of the hosts, announced that on the fifth anniversary, #FriFotos would be discontinued.

He also announced the themes for the final weeks.

Theme for today:  #Memories

This is a fitting theme as we look back on #FriFotos history.  One of the things we loved about #FriFotos was that as each theme was announced, it would trigger our review of our photo archive for images that would fit the theme.   In many cases, we also had blog posts that accompanied the images, which also helped us to relive our memories.

The happy #Memory for us was when we were invited to co-host #FriFotos #GreatIndoors theme.

Here is a sampling of what we shared that week:

• Least Likely Location for Stained Glass
• Stained Glass Off the Beaten Path
• Stained Glass Around the World Part 2
• Stained Glass Around the World
• Visit Great Indoors Across the Globe

See our #FriFotos photos on Twitter







Join us this Friday for the Final time as we join as an online community sharing images that relate to the #Memories topic.

Thank you Charles, Jonathan, Stephanie, and Spencer for all the hard work to make #FriFotos such a success.   Thank you to guest co-hosts as well and to all that contributed.   Truly this was a labor of love.   We are saddened to see #FriFotos end because it always gave us something to look forward to as the week drew to a close. 

Thank you to all that contributed their images.   Photography is a great way to make memories.   We love sharing our images with the world on Twitter and elsewhere and will continue to do so.

We've made a few friends along the way and hopefully that won't end as #FriFotos packs up after the final Friday.

If you like Travel & Photography join us online:

Follow us on Twitter: @ChrisPappinMCC  Pinterest: CruiseWithChris Pappin and Facebook: CruiseWithChris Pappin Cruises Inc

Do You Have Any of These

We continue our walk down memory lane with another cruise "tradition" that has fallen by the wayside.

Going Thru Archives

Our first cruises on a big ship were Carnival cruises.  I think it's safe to say that they have probably introduced more people to cruising than any other cruise line.


After 7 Nights - Time to Say Good-Bye

When we started cruising almost 30 years ago, the only dining option was assigned dining.   Each night you went to your assigned table in the main dining room and were served by your waiter, assistant waiter, head waiter, and maître d'.  

It goes without saying that at the end of the cruise, you had gotten to know your wait staff and table mates.   Hopefully, you'd had a good time with your table mates and received good service.

The last night was a farewell dinner and as was customary, this would be the time to extend gratuities to the wait staff who had served you throughout the cruise.  

On Carnival ships, they had another tradition on the last night of the cruise.   They would give each guest a souvenir picture of the ship.   They would gladly sign the picture for you so that you could remember the great service - especially when you filled out your comment card.

We're not certain when this tradition was discontinued, but certainly do miss this gesture of friendship that used to go hand-in-hand with the final dinner.

What memories do you have of past traditions?

Galapagos - Quito (Day 10)

click image to enlarge

Sunday, September 7th, we were back in Quito following our 7 days on Celebrity Xpedition. The transfer by motor coach from Quito Airport took about 15 minutes. We arrived at the JW Marriott Quito where we checked back into our hotel rooms.

We had time to relax before departing by motor coach for a shopping trip to a local craft market. Since our flight on Monday wasn't until 11 PM, we would have the entire day to spend in Quito. We spoke with the Celebrity representative and arranged a private tour to Mindo Cloud Forest. I'll talk about this tour in my next post.

By the time we got up to our hotel room, our bags arrived from the ship. The hotel did a fantastic job with luggage throughout the entire trip. We never had to deal with the bags ourselves. As far as I know, everyone had all their luggage without incident.

We went up to the 9th floor to the Executive Lounge and had something to drink and some snacks before heading out on the shopping activity. We met in the lobby and boarded the motor coaches for a short ride into Quito. The coaches dropped us off by the market and the Celebrity representative said they would return in an hour to take us to another location.

They told us that the crafters expected us to negotiate on price and set us loose. There were several rows of crafters in a covered area. Each aisle had crafters on both sides in small booths. There was just enough room to navigate down the aisles. As we'd walk down the aisle, the crafters would try to get your attention to look at their merchandise. Many of the booths carried the same products. The majority of the merchandise was handmade.

You could get handmade scarfs, jewelry, religious and other items. I found some earrings that I liked. They were only 3 USD. Keep in mind that Equador uses US dollars which makes it quite easy to shop there. I didn't have the heart to negotiate, so I paid for my earrings and went further. We had already done some shopping earlier in the week, so we didn't buy much at the market - just a few items.

Boarding the motor coaches one more time we headed to a more exclusive gallery. There were various art pieces and sculptures. Several of the items peaked our interest, but we really didn't have the room for any large boxes, so we simply walked around the gallery admiring the craftsmanship. Some people were having items shipped home and others were taking the boxes with them.

After an hour or so, we boarded the motor coaches again for our return to the hotel. That ended the escorted portion of our day in Quito. Dinner was at our leisure in the hotel. We had a choice of a chicken or beef entree. We were hoping to meet another couple but were unable to reach them. So, we asked another couple from our cruise to join us. More people started arriving at the restaurant and eventually most of the passengers were there. We had the restaurant to ourselves complete with entertainment. It was an enjoyable meal.

Following the meal it was time to say our good-byes to all our new friends. Some of the people were leaving as early as 4 or 5 AM for their flights home. Most likely we would only see a few people on Monday. It was a bittersweet moment as we said our good-byes. With a small group like this, you really get to know people. It was like saying good-bye to friends we'd known for years. After dinner, we just went back up to our room to relax.

In my next post, I'll talk about our final day in Quito.

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Additional Photos can be found on our Exotics Shutterfly page

Connect With Us On

        

Sign-up for Exclusive Email Offers

Galapagos - Final Night on Xpedition

click images to enlarge

Saturday night and it's time to say farewell to the crew of Celebrity Xpedition. Captain Fausto Pacheco hosted a Farewell Cocktail party in Discovery Lounge before dinner.

As is customary on all Celebrity cruises, the staff is called on stage to be recognized by the passengers with a round of applause. Our Cruise Director, Jorge, served as MC for this event.

The farewell greeting was from the heart: "During these past 7 days, we have sailed with you around the Enchanted Islands, covering a total distance of 611 nautical miles. It has been a pleasure to host you in the beautiful and unique Galapagos Islands. We sincerely trust that you have enjoyed this experience on board the M/V Xpedition and we wish you a happy and safe journey home. Thank you for being with us."

At the conclusion of the captain's greeting, the entire staff of the Xpedition circulated through Discovery Lounge personally thanking each of us for sailing with them. It was a very emotional experience for all of us. We've been on many cruises, but never before have experienced a farewell like this.

Farewell dinner was served following the cocktail party. The meal consisted of steak and lobster. The wait staff concluded the meal by parading through Darwin Restaurant with flaming baked Alaska.



The evening concluded with a Local Folkloric Show in Discovery Lounge. Local folkloric performers had come onboard to treat us to music and dancing complete with colorful native costumes.

Many of the passengers joined in the dancing as the evening progressed. It was a very enjoyable conclusion to a wonderful week in the Galapagos Islands. We were truly sad to see this cruise end.

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Additional Photos can be found on our Exotics Shutterfly page

Connect With Us On

        

Sign-up for Exclusive Email Offers